Her son was killed by ICE at a traffic stop. She says she’s still waiting for justice

A Mother's Long Wait for Answers After Her Son's Fatal ICE Encounter

Ecorescuezone.com – Rachel Reyes found herself reliving painful memories when news broke about the tragic deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Both men lost their lives at the hands of federal immigration agents, mirroring the circumstances surrounding her own son's death sixteen months prior. "It really breaks my heart for the families because I understand the nightmare they're going through," Reyes expressed, her words carrying the weight of personal experience. Her son, Ruben Ray Martinez, a twenty-three-year-old United States citizen, met his end in March 2025 when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot him during a routine traffic stop. This incident paralleled the cases of both Salgado Araujo and Durán Guerrero, who were killed within days of each other this month. Martinez's death occurred just two months after President Trump resumed his position in the White House, coinciding with the beginning of what has been described as an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. According to The Trace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to covering gun violence, there have been twenty-nine additional occasions where immigration agents discharged their weapons at civilians since then. At least seven of these encounters proved fatal. The Associated Press has documented at least ten deaths during Trump's second presidential term. NPR previously covered Martinez's story in April, following his family's nearly year-long effort to secure body camera footage and push for a state grand jury review. That grand jury ultimately decided not to file charges against the officer who fired upon Martinez. Reyes has found it particularly difficult to witness history repeating itself while she continues her pursuit of accountability. "It's just really upsetting, the whole thing, because I know what it feels like, and it's incredibly frustrating to be treated like if your loved one's life doesn't matter," she explained. The San Antonio native recently contributed an opinion piece to The New York Times advocating for improved transparency and accountability in ICE shooting incidents. On the early morning of March 15, 2025, Martinez was fatally shot on South Padre Island, a popular resort area in southern Texas. Following a night celebrating his birthday, he approached a busy intersection where a car accident had occurred several hours earlier. Officers from various agencies were present to assist with traffic management, including personnel from Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE division. When contacted for comment, the Department of Homeland Security stated that a driver "intentionally ran over" an HSI officer, causing the officer to land on the hood of Martinez's blue Ford vehicle. "Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public," DHS explained. The department noted that the officer who made contact with the car "sustained a knee injury and was taken to the hospital." However, body camera footage from state and local officers, released by the Texas Department of Public Safety, revealed that Martinez received contradictory directions before slowly driving forward and to the left. Videos reviewed by NPR also left unclear whether the vehicle actually struck an agent. DHS provided comparable explanations for the deaths of Salgado Araujo in Texas and Durán Guerrero in Maine. In both situations, the agency claimed the men tried to escape traffic stops and used their vehicles as weapons. In Maine, DHS stated the ICE officer feared "for public safety" before shooting. Yet the federal government has not released video evidence confirming these assertions. Houston Public Media reported that two passengers in Salgado Araujo's van challenged ICE's version of events. In both incidents, ICE agents were not equipped with body cameras. Beyond shooting cases, a recent American Civil Liberties Union report identified dozens of incidents across eight states since January 2025 involving immigration officers ramming into vehicles, breaking windows, and hitting pedestrians with cars. Following the two fatal traffic stops last week, NPR reported that DHS intended to pause nonurgent vehicle stops. However, one day after these reports emerged, Trump announced on Truth Social that such stops must continue. "We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" he declared. "Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands." During a Thursday press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized that vehicle stops remain "a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign." In Martinez's case, DHS took eleven months to publicly acknowledge its role. This revelation came only after American Oversight, a government watchdog organization, submitted a public records request concerning ICE's use of force policies.